Candidates' Blueprints for Easing the Housing Crisis |
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Alternate-side parking: In effect until Saturday (Juneteenth). |
 | | Karsten Moran for The New York Times |
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When Bill de Blasio ran for mayor in 2013, he made addressing New York's affordable-housing shortage a central part of his campaign. |
More than seven years later, despite significant investments under Mr. de Blasio, the Democratic candidates vying to succeed him confront a problem that may have worsened during the pandemic. |
"The housing crisis facing the next mayor is really one of unprecedented proportions," said Rachel Fee, executive director of the New York Housing Conference, a policy and advocacy nonprofit. |
She said the next mayor will be the "driver of housing policy in New York City, and whatever they are doing in this first housing plan is really going to set the course for the next decade at least." |
Even before the pandemic, about half of the city's households spent more than 30 percent of their income on rent, according to an analysis by New York University's Furman Center. |
The pandemic has made the situation even more dire. Renters' arrears have risen to hundreds of millions of dollars, putting them at risk of losing their homes once a moratorium on evictions ends. |
The candidates' plans overlap in many ways: nearly every candidate expressed support for legalizing basement apartments, which the city has already begun to explore, and building housing on the remaining parcels of vacant city-owned land. |
But they also differ in some of the solutions they emphasize. |
Kathryn Garcia, a former sanitation commissioner, and Raymond J. McGuire, a former Wall Street executive, have made the creation of tens of thousands of new homes for the poorest New Yorkers a top objective. Maya Wiley, a civil rights lawyer and former counsel to Mr. de Blasio, and Shaun Donovan, who was housing secretary under President Barack Obama and also has served as a city housing commissioner, say they would steer hundreds of millions of dollars to struggling renters. |
Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, is calling for a hefty increase in the number of affordable units the city requires in big new residential buildings. Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, wants wealthy neighborhoods to make way for more affordable units. Andrew Yang, a former presidential candidate, and Dianne Morales, a former nonprofit executive, have keyed in on converting hotels to housing. |
More on the mayor's race: |
At least two people were killed and 19 others wounded in shootings across New York City this weekend, police said. [N.Y. Post] |
Fire marshals arrested four people and seized more than $8,000 worth of illegal fireworks, officials said. [ABC 7] |
Less than 1 percent of the independent venues, like clubs and theaters, that applied for a special federal pandemic aid program have received it. [Gothamist] |
And finally: A march for Black trans youth |
When thousands gathered in Brooklyn last summer to take part in a march for Black trans lives, Shéár Avory was at home, helping take care of her family in the middle of the pandemic. But Mx. Avory, who is transgender and nonbinary, was heartened by what she saw online: images and videos of thousands of people in a sea of white, rallying for their community. |
"I remember being so connected to community, even virtually," Mx. Avory, 22, said. "And just feeling this overwhelming sense of 'Well, we did that.'" |
On Sunday, a crowd gathered on the grounds of the Brooklyn Museum for the Brooklyn Liberation March. This time, Mx. Avory was speaking in front of them, at a rally meant specifically to center the concerns of Black trans and gender-nonconforming youth. |
The thousands who convened in white garb and marched en masse were drawn together to show support for transgender youth at a particularly tumultuous moment for them. In state legislatures across the United States, Republican lawmakers have introduced bills to limit the participation of transgender children in sports and hinder their access to gender-affirming or transition-related medical care. |
At the same time, the pandemic has exacerbated inequities that put people of color and trans people at severe economic disadvantages. And persistent violence against transgender people has not abated. At least 28 transgender or gender-nonconforming people have been fatally shot or killed this year. |
Organizers said they wanted to give this year's spotlight to younger voices, those who would be the next generation of activists and leaders, and whose formative experiences were different from theirs. "We are ready for this new generation of youth who are coming up and defining themselves by things that are much more complex and much more deep," said Ianne Fields Stewart, an activist and performer. |
Metropolitan Diary: Small bouquet |
I had a social work internship in Queens near the City Clerk's office. Every morning, I would pass photographers and merchants loaded with flowers and balloons, waiting for a newly wed couple to come out after getting married there. |
One day, I was walking to the subway after work and I found myself alongside a middle-age man who was holding a small bouquet of roses. He had on a worn blue hoodie and jeans. I can only describe the expression on his face as a combination of wonder, disbelief and joy. |
He glanced at me. I smiled. |
"I bought her flowers," he said, half to me and half to himself. "I'm about to meet up with her and I've never bought her flowers before, but today I bought her flowers!" He shook his head in amazement. |
"I'm sure she'll love them," I said. |
We took one more step together before he turned and went into a McDonald's. |
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